[ This essay, a chapter from Mr. Cremo's book
Human Devolution (2003), is copyrighted material being used here
with the author's permission, and may not be reproduced elsewhere in
any form without permission from the author, and from Charles H. Smith.
]

If, as the evidence in Forbidden Archeology
suggests, we did not evolve from primitive apes by a process of Darwinian
evolution, then where did we come from? To properly answer this question,
we must first critically examine our fundamental assumptions about observable
nature. If we confine ourselves to current assumptions about observable
nature held by mainstream science, this limits the kinds of alternative
explanations of human origins it is possible to present. Mainstream science
assumes that all phenomena in observable nature are the result of the
actions of ordinary matter, operating according to ordinary physical and
chemical laws.

There are, I am convinced, some very good reasons
why we should modify the assumptions about observable nature currently
held by mainstream science. Many of these reasons can be found in a curious
place--the work of one of the founders of the theory of evolution by natural
selection.

In 1854, a young English naturalist named Alfred
Russel Wallace journeyed to the East Indies to collect wildlife specimens.
During his travels, he was intrigued by the patterns of variation among
plants and animals throughout the region. In 1858, while laid up with
a tropical disease, he took a couple of days to write a scientific paper
explaining the origin of such variations. He then sent the paper to Charles
Darwin for comments before publication. Darwin, back in England, had been
working since 1844 on a book explaining the origin of species by evolution
through natural selection. He was shocked to find that Wallace, a relatively
unknown naturalist, was about to publish a paper outlining the whole idea.
In the scientific world, priority is everything. The person who first
publishes an idea or theory receives credit for it. Darwin, somewhat anxious
about his priority, consulted some of his close scientific friends. On
their advice, he proposed to Wallace that they co-author a paper on evolution.
Wallace agreed, insuring his lasting fame, alongside Darwin, as one of
the world's great scientists. Interestingly enough, Wallace, the cofounder
with Darwin of the theory of evolution by natural selection, became involved
in paranormal research.

Modern biology and anthropology texts often contain
biographical sketches of Alfred Russel Wallace. But these idealized sketches
routinely ignore Wallace's extensive research into the paranormal and
his related conclusions, portraying him instead as a saint of materialism.
This slanted hagiography is arguably related to the authors' cultural
commitment to materialist, reductionist cosmologies.

The central feature of Wallace's paranormal research
was his belief in spirits and a spirit world. On the basis of personal
experiments and reliable reports from other scientists, Wallace concluded
that the universe is populated with a hierarchy of spirit beings, some
of whom are in contact with the human population on earth, usually through
mediums. According to Wallace, the spirit beings lower in the hierarchy,
acting through mediums, were responsible for a variety of paranormal phenomena,
including clairvoyance, miraculous healings, communications from the dead,
apparitions, materializations of physical objects, levitations, etc. More
powerful spirit beings may have played a role in the process of evolution,
guiding it in certain directions.

Spirits, the kind that can move matter, are the last
thing today's evolutionists want to hear about. Such things threaten current
evolutionary theory, which depends on philosophical naturalism--the idea
that everything in nature happens according to known physical laws. Introduce
nonmaterial entities and effects, and the theory of evolution loses its
exclusivity as an explanation for the origin of species. Perhaps spirits
were involved in the process. If so, one would have to consider "supernatural
selection" in addition to natural selection.

In addition to believing in spirits, Wallace also
believed that anatomically modern humans were of considerable antiquity.
For example, he accepted the discoveries of J. D. Whitney, which, by modern
geological reckoning, place humans in California up to 50 million years
ago (Cremo and Thompson 1993, pp. 368-394, 439-458). Wallace noted that
such evidence tended to be "attacked with all the weapons of doubt, accusation,
and ridicule" (Wallace 1887, p. 667). Wallace suggested that "the proper
way to treat evidence as to man's antiquity is to place it on record,
and admit it provisionally wherever it would be held adequate in the case
of other animals; not, as is too often now the case, to ignore it as unworthy
of acceptance or subject its discoverers to indiscriminate accusations
of being impostors or the victims of impostors" (Wallace 1887, p. 667).

Wallace encountered the same kind of opposition when
he communicated to scientists the results of his spiritualistic research.
On the basis of personal experiments and reliable reports from other scientists,
Wallace concluded that the universe is populated with various kinds of
spirit beings, some of who are in contact with the human population on
earth, usually through mediums. According to Wallace, the minor spirit
beings, acting through mediums, were responsible for a variety of paranormal
phenomena, including clairvoyance, miraculous healings, communications
from the dead, apparitions, materializations of physical objects, levitations,
etc. More powerful spirit beings may have played a role in the process
of evolution, guiding it in certain directions.

Describing the reactions of the public and his scientific
colleagues, Wallace wrote in his autobiography: "The majority of people
to-day have been brought up in the belief that miracles, ghosts, and the
whole series of strange phenomena here described cannot exist; that they
are contrary to the laws of nature; that they are the superstitions of
a bygone age; and that therefore they are necessarily either impostures
or delusions. There is no place in the fabric of their thought into which
such facts can be fitted. When I first began this inquiry it was the same
with myself. The facts did not fit into my then existing fabric of thought.
All my preconceptions, all my knowledge, all my belief in the supremacy
of science and of natural law were against the possibility of such phenomena.
And even when, one by one, the facts were forced upon me without possibility
of escape from them, still, as Sir David Brewster declared after being
at first astonished by the phenomena he saw with Mr. Home, 'spirit was
the last thing I could give in to.' Every other possible solution was
tried and rejected. . . . Many people think that when I and others publish
accounts of such phenomena, we wish or require our readers to believe
them on our testimony. But that is not the case. Neither I nor any other
well-instructed spiritualist expects anything of the kind. We write not
to convince, but to excite inquiry. We ask our readers not for belief,
but for doubt of their own infallibility on this question; we ask for
inquiry and patient experiment before hastily concluding that we are,
all of us, mere dupes and idiots as regards a subject to which we have
devoted our best mental faculties and powers of observation for many years"
(Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 349-350).

Early Experiences with Mesmerism

Wallace first became interested in paranormal phenomena
in 1843. Some English surgeons, including Dr. Elliotson, were then using
mesmerism, an early form of hypnotism, to perform painless operations
on patients. The reality of this anesthesia, although today accepted,
was then a matter of extreme controversy. Wallace noted: "The greatest
surgical and physiological authorities of the day declared that the patients
were either impostors or persons naturally insensible to pain; the operating
surgeons were accused of bribing their patients; and Dr. Elliotson was
described as 'polluting the temple of science.' The Medical-Chirurgical
Society opposed the reading of a paper describing an amputation during
the magnetic trance, while Dr. Elliotson himself was ejected from his
professorship at the University of London" (Wallace 1896, pp. ix-x).

At the time, Wallace was teaching school in one of
the Midland counties of England. In 1844, Mr. Spencer Hall, a touring
mesmerist, stopped there and gave a public demonstration. Wallace and
some of his students, greatly interested, attended. Having heard from
Hall that almost anyone could induce the mesmeric trance, Wallace later
decided to make his own experiments. Using some of his students as subjects,
he soon succeeded in mesmerizing them and produced a variety of phenomena.
Some were within the range of modern medical applications of hypnotism,
while some extended to the paranormal (Wallace 1896, p. x, pp.
126-128; 1905 v. 1, pp. 232-236).

One thing witnessed by Wallace was community of sensation.
"The sympathy of sensation between my patient and myself was to me the
most mysterious phenomenon I had ever witnessed," he later wrote. "I found
that when I laid hold of his hand he felt, tasted, or smelt exactly the
same as I did. . . . I formed a chain of several persons, at one end of
which was the patient, at the other myself. And when, in perfect silence,
I was pinched or pricked, he would immediately put his hand to the corresponding
part of his own body, and complain of being pinched or pricked too. If
I put a lump of sugar or salt in my mouth, he immediately went through
the action of sucking, and soon showed by gestures and words of the most
expressive nature what it was I was tasting" (Wallace 1896, pp. 127-128).
During such experiments, Wallace took care to "guard against deception"
(Wallace 1896, p. 126). From reports of the mesmeric experiments of other
researchers, Wallace concluded that "the more remarkable phenomena, including
clairvoyance both as to facts known and those unknown to the mesmeriser,
have been established as absolute realities" (Wallace 1896, p. xi).

Despite the well-documented observations of numerous
competent researchers, the scientific establishment remained hostile to
mesmeric phenomena. Eventually, the production of insensibility, behavior
modification, and mild delusions would be accepted under the name of hypnotism.
But the more extraordinary mesmeric manifestations--such as clairvoyance
and community of sensation--were never accepted. In any case, Wallace,
found his own experiments of lasting value: "I thus learned my first great
lesson in the inquiry into these obscure fields of knowledge, never to
accept the disbelief of great men, or their accusations of imposture or
of imbecility, as of any great weight when opposed to the repeated observation
of facts by other men admittedly sane and honest" (Wallace 1896, p. x).

Travels in the Tropics

From 1848 to 1862, Wallace traveled widely in the
tropics, collecting wildlife specimens and filling notebooks with biological
observations. While on an expedition in the Amazon region of Brazil, he
saw his brother Herbert mesmerize a young Indian man in a hut. At Herbert's
command, the young man's arm became rigid. Herbert restored movement to
the young man's arm and then asked him to remain lying down in the hut
until the brothers returned from a collecting excursion. When two hours
later they came back, they found the young man still lying down, as if
paralyzed, unable to rise although he had attempted it (Wallace 1905,
v. 2, pp. 275-276).

When Wallace returned to England from Brazil, he
did so alone, Herbert having died of a tropical disease. After a short
time, Wallace set off on another expedition, this time to the East Indies.
While in that region, Wallace learned of paranormal phenomena that went
far beyond anything he had witnessed in his experiments with mesmerism.
"During my eight years' travels in the East," he later recalled, "I heard
occasionally, through the newspapers, of the strange doings of the spiritualists
in America and England, some of which seemed to me too wild and outrageous
to be anything but the ravings of madmen. Others, however, appeared to
be so well authenticated that I could not at all understand them, but
concluded, as most people do at first that such things must be either
imposture or delusion" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 276).

Despite his feelings of disbelief, Wallace suspended
judgement. His experience with mesmerism had taught him that "there were
mysteries connected with the human mind which modern science ignored because
it could not explain" (Wallace 1896, p. 131). So when Wallace came back
to England in 1862, he determined to look carefully into spiritualism.

First Spiritualistic Experiences

Initially, Wallace contented himself with studying
reports. But in the summer of 1865, he began to directly witness spiritualistic
phenomena. His first experiences took place at the home of a friend, described
by Wallace as "a sceptic, a man of science, and a lawyer" (Wallace 1896,
p. 132). Wallace, along with his host and members of his host's family,
sat around a large, round table, upon which they placed their hands. Wallace
observed inexplicable movements of the table and heard equally inexplicable
sounds of rapping (Wallace 1896, pp. 132-133).

On a friend's recommendation, Wallace then visited
Mrs. Marshall, a medium who gave public demonstrations of phenomena stronger
than those Wallace had yet seen. Wallace paid several visits to Mrs. Marshall
in London, usually in the company of a skeptical friend with a scientific
background. Among the numerous physical phenomena he witnessed were levitation
of a small table one foot off the ground for a period of twenty seconds,
strange movements of a guitar, inexplicable sliding movements of chairs
across the floor, and levitation of a chair with a woman sitting upon
it. Wallace noted: "There was no room for any possible trick or deception.
In each case, before we began, we turned up the tables and chairs, and
saw that there was no connection between them and the floor, and we placed
them where we pleased before we sat down. Several of the phenomena occurred
entirely under our own hands, and quite disconnected from the 'medium'"
(Wallace 1896, p. 136). At Mrs. Marshall's, Wallace also saw writing mysteriously
appear on pieces of paper placed under the table and heard the spelling
out by raps of intelligible messages. These messages contained names and
other facts of a personal nature, not likely to have been known by the
medium (Wallace 1896, pp. 137-138). Wallace himself received a message
that contained his dead brother's name, the place where he died in Brazil,
and the name of the last person to see him alive (Wallace 1896, p. 137).

As a result of such experiences, Wallace eventually
became a convinced spiritualist. Critics suggested that Wallace was predisposed
to spiritualism because of religious leanings (Wallace 1896, p. vi). But
Wallace, describing his view of life at the time he encountered spiritualism,
wrote: "I ought to state that for twenty-five years I had been an utter
sceptic as to the existence of any preter-human or super-human intelligences,
and that I never for a moment contemplated the possibility that the marvels
related by Spiritualists could be literally true. If I have now changed
my opinion, it is simply by the force of evidence. It is from no dread
of annihilation that I have gone into this subject; it is from no inordinate
longing for eternal existence that I have come to believe in facts which
render this highly probable, if they do not actually prove it" (Wallace
1896, p. 132).

"The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural"

In 1866, Wallace published in a periodical an
extended explanation of spiritualism called "The Scientific Aspect of
the Supernatural." The heart of the essay was a summary of scientifically
documented evidence for psychical phenomena, such as spirit messages.
Wallace later brought out the essay in booklet form, and sent it to many
of his scientific friends and acquaintances.

Thomas Henry Huxley, who received a copy, replied:
"I am neither shocked nor disposed to issue a Commission of Lunacy against
you. It may all be true, for anything I know to the contrary, but really
I cannot get up any interest in the subject. I never cared for gossip
in my life, and disembodied gossip, such as these worthy ghosts supply
their friends, is not more interesting to me than any other. As for investigating
the matter--I have half a dozen investigations of infinitely greater interest
to me--to which any spare time I may have will be devoted. I give it up
for the same reason I abstain from chess--it's too amusing to be fair
work and too hard work to be amusing" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 280).

In another exchange with Huxley, Wallace pointed
out that most people who daily depart this world are addicted to gossip.
One should not therefore expect that their communications with earthbound
friends should provide examples of the most polished discourse (Wallace
1874; in Smith 1991, pp. 90-91).

Dr. John D. Tyndall wrote to Wallace about his spiritualist
publication: "I see the usual keen powers of your mind displayed in the
treatment of this question. But mental power may show itself, whether
its material be facts or fictions. It is not lack of logic that I see
in your book, but a willingness that I deplore to accept data which are
unworthy of your attention. This is frank--is it not? (Wallace 1905, v.
2, p. 281).

Another scientist who received Wallace's pamphlet
"The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural" was A. De Morgan, professor
of mathematics at University College. Already a spiritualist, De Morgan
wrote a letter to Wallace, warning him to expect difficulties in demonstrating
spiritualistic effects to scientists. "There is much reason to think,"
wrote De Morgan "that the state of mind of the inquirer has something--be
it internal or external--to do with the power of the phenomena to manifest
themselves. . . . Now the man of science comes to the subject in utter
incredulity of the phenomena, and a wish to justify it. I think it very
possible that the phenomena may be withheld. In some cases this has happened,
as I have heard from good sources" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 284).

Wallace nevertheless invited leading scientists and
other learned persons to witness spiritualist phenomena, advising them
that several sittings would be required. This seems reasonable, because
most experimental work in science does require repeated trials. Dr. W.
B. Carpenter and Dr. John Tyndall came for one sitting each, during which
only very mild, unimpressive phenomena occurred. They refused Wallace's
requests to attend more sittings (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 278-279). Most
scientists refused to come at all. G. H. Lewes, for example, was "too
much occupied and too incredulous to give any time to the inquiry" (Wallace
1905, v. 2, p. 279).

Although Lewes refused Wallace's invitations to examine
spiritualistic phenomena, he wrote to the Pall Mall Gazette (May
19, 1868) putting forth accusations against mediums and spiritualists.
Amazingly, Lewes wrote that scientists were never allowed to investigate
the phenomena. Wallace replied in a letter to the editor that this was
not true. For example, Cromwell Varley, an electrical engineer, had been
allowed to test the medium Daniel Dunglass Home, with results favorable
to the authenticity of his paranormal phenomena. But the journal's editor
refused to publish the letter (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 282).

Around this same time, Tyndall had called for a single
test demonstration that would prove once and for all the reality or falsity
of spiritualistic phenomena. Wallace replied in a letter to Tyndall that
one test, even if successful, would not suffice to convince opponents.
Wallace thought it better to amass reports of the numerous credible cases
already on record. And to these he added, in his letter to Tyndall, one
of his own experiences:

"The place was the drawing-room of a friend of mine,
a brother of one of our best artists. The witnesses were his own and his
brother's family, one or two of their friends, myself, and Mr. John Smith,
banker, of Malton, Yorkshire, introduced by me. The medium was Miss Nichol.
We sat round a pillar-table in the middle of the room, exactly under a
glass chandelier. Miss Nichol sat opposite me, and my friend, Mr. Smith,
sat next her. We all held our neighbour's hands, and Miss Nichol's hands
were both held by Mr. Smith, a stranger to all but myself, and who had
never met Miss N. before. When comfortably arranged in this manner the
lights were put out, one of the party holding a box of matches ready to
strike a light when asked.

"After a few minutes' conversation, during a period
of silence, I heard the following sounds in rapid succession: a slight
rustle, as of a lady's dress; a little tap, such as might be made by setting
down a wineglass on the table; and a very slight jingling of the drops
of the glass chandelier. An instant after Mr. Smith said, 'Miss Nichol
is gone.' The match-holder struck a light, and on the table (which had
no cloth) was Miss Nichol seated in her chair, her head just touching
the chandelier. . . . Mr. Smith assured me that Miss Nichol simply glided
out of his hands. No one else moved or quitted hold of their neighbour's
hands. There was not more noise than I described, and no motion or even
tremor of the table, although our hands were upon it. You know Miss N.'s
size and probable weight, and can judge of the force and exertion required
to lift her and her chair on to the exact centre of a large pillar-table,
as well as the great surplus of force required to do it almost instantaneously
and noiselessly, in the dark, and without pressure on the side of the
table, which would have tilted it up. Will any of the known laws of nature
account for this?" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 291-293).

If the facts were as Wallace reported them, it would
seem that Miss Nichol herself could not have managed to place herself
on the table. If all present at the table were holding hands and did not
let go, it would seem that none of them could have lifted Miss Nichol
in her chair. That leaves confederates as a possibility. But they should
have been exposed by the struck match. Furthermore, it seems any attempt
to lift Miss Nichol in complete darkness, either by persons at the table
or confederates from outside the room, would have caused much more noise
than reported by Wallace. One can only propose that Wallace himself gave
a false report. This, however, seems unlikely.

Séances at Miss Douglas's

In 1869, Robert Chambers, author of Vestiges
of Creation, introduced Wallace to Miss Douglas, a wealthy Scotch
lady with an interest in spiritualism. Wallace attended many séances
at Miss Douglas's London residence in South Audley Street. There he met
many well connected spiritualists, including Darwin's relative Hensleigh
Wedgwood. Among the most interesting séances were those with Mr.
Haxby, a young postal employee described by Wallace as "a remarkable medium
for materializations." Haxby would sit in a small room separated by curtains
from a dimly lit drawing room on the first floor.

Wallace (1905 v. 2, pp. 328-329) gave this account
of a typical séance with Haxby: "After a few minutes, from between
the curtains would appear a tall and stately East Indian figure in white
robes, a rich waistband, sandals, and large turban, snowy white and disposed
with perfect elegance. Sometimes this figure would walk around the room
outside the circle, would lift up a large and very heavy musical box,
which he would wind up and then swing round his head with one hand. He
would often come to each of us in succession, bow, and allow us to feel
his hands and examine his robes. We asked him to stand against the door-post
and marked his height, and on one occasion Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood brought
with him a shoemaker's measuring-rule, and at our request, Abdullah, as
he gave his name, took off a sandal, placed his foot on a chair, and allowed
it to be accurately measured with the sliding-rule. After the séance
Mr. Haxby removed his boot and had his foot measured by the same rule,
when that of the figure was found to be full one inch and a quarter the
longer, while in height it was about half a foot taller. A minute or two
after Abdullah had retired into the small room, Haxby was found in a trance
in his chair, while no trace of the white-robed stranger was to be seen.
The door and window of the back room were securely fastened, and often
secured with gummed paper, which was found intact."

The usual skeptical explanation for such manifestations
is imposture by the medium or a confederate. In this case, the measurements
taken rule out imposture by the medium. And the precautions taken to secure
the entrances to the back room make the participation of a confederate
somewhat doubtful. On the whole, circumstances point to the genuineness
of the materialization.

On one occasion at Miss Douglas's, the famous Daniel
Dunglass Home was the medium and Sir William Crookes, a distinguished
physicist, was present. Crookes, later president of the Royal Society
and recipient of the Nobel Prize for physics, was conducting his own research
into spiritualistic phenomena. Wallace (1905 v. 2, p. 293) noted, however,
that "his careful experiments, continued for several years, are to this
day ignored or rejected by the bulk of scientific and public opinion as
if they had never been made!"

At the séance attended by Wallace, Home was
given an accordion. He held it with one hand, under the table around which
he and the witnesses sat. Home's other hand remained on top of the table.
On hearing the accordion play, Wallace went under the table to see what
was happening: "The room was well lighted, and I distinctly saw Home's
hand holding the instrument, which moved up and down and played a tune
without any visible cause. On stating this, he said, 'Now I will take
away my hand'--which he did; but the instrument went on playing, and I
saw a detached hand holding it while Home's two hands were seen above
the table by all present. This was one of the ordinary phenomena, and
thousands of persons have witnessed it; and when we consider that Home's
séances almost always took place in private homes at which he was
a guest, and with people absolutely above suspicion of collusion with
an impostor, and also either in the daytime or in a fully illuminated
room, it will be admitted that no form of legerdemain will explain what
occurred" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 286-287).

Darwin Agrees to Test a Medium

Another scientist who witnessed Home's mysterious
accordion playing was Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin. At the
invitation of Crookes, Galton attended three séances with Home
and another medium, Kate Fox. Afterwards, in a letter dated April 19,
1872, Galton wrote enthusiastically to Darwin: "What surprises me is the
perfect openness of Miss F. and Home. They let you do whatever you like
within certain limits, their limits not interfering with adequate investigation.
I really believe the truth of what they allege, that people who come as
men of science are usually so disagreeable, opinionated and obstructive
and have so little patience, that the seance rarely succeeds with them.
It is curious to observe the entire absence of excitement or tension about
people at a seance. Familiarity has bred contempt of the strange things
witnessed. . . Crookes, I am sure, so far as is just for me to give an
opinion, is thoroughly scientific in his procedure. I am convinced that
the affair is no matter of vulgar legerdemain and believe it is well worth
going into, on the understanding that a first rate medium (and I hear
there are only three such) puts himself at your disposal" (Pearson 1914).
Darwin agreed to see Home, giving Galton a letter to send to him. But
by that time Home had gone on to Russia and never returned to England
(Beloff 1993, pp. 49-50). This is unfortunate. Who knows what would have
happened if Darwin had actually met Home? Perhaps he would have joined
Wallace in his spiritualism.

The Skeptical Sir David Brewster

Home's mediumship had long been a matter of controversy
among English scientists. Home, born in Scotland, had gone to the United
States as a child, returning to England in 1855. At that time, he lived
in a London hotel owned by a Mr. Cox in Jermyn Street. In his autobiography,
Wallace gives attention to Sir David Brewster's experiences with Home.
Brewster, a noted physicist, attended a séance with Home at Cox's
Hotel and another at Ealing, determined to expose any trickery. After
a newspaper gave an account of what happened, Brewster wrote to the editor
giving his own testimony: "It is quite true that I saw at Cox's Hotel,
in company with Lord Brougham and at Ealing, in company with Mrs. Trollope,
several mechanical effects which I was unable to explain. But although
I could not account for all these effects, I never thought of ascribing
them to spirits stalking beneath the drapery of the table; and I saw enough
to satisfy myself that they could all be produced by human hands and feet,
and to prove to others that some of them, at least, had such an origin"
(Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 287).

Here Brewster appears to be saying that the things
he observed were produced by trickery. But a Mr. Coleman, who spoke with
Brewster shortly after the séance, wrote a letter to the paper
giving the following account of their conversation (Wallace 1905, v. 2,
p. 288).

"Do you, Sir David, think these things were produced by trick?"

"No, certainly not," Brewster is said to have replied.

"Is it a delusion, think you?"

"No; that is out of the question."

"Then what is it?"

"I don't know; but spirit is the last thing I give in to."

Brewster replied with a letter of his own. Although
he maintained his skeptical attitude, he did give some intriguing descriptions
of what happened at Cox's Hotel: "When all our hands were upon the table
noises were heard--rappings in abundance; and, finally, when we rose up,
the table actually rose, as appeared to me, from the ground. This result
I do not pretend to explain. . . . A small hand-bell to be rung by the
spirits, was placed on the ground near my feet. I placed my feet round
it in the form of an angle, to catch any intrusive apparatus. The bell
did not ring; but when taken across to a place near Mr. Home's feet, it
speedily came across, and placed its handle in my hand" (Wallace 1905,
v. 2, pp. 288-289).

In his autobiography, Wallace noted that Brewster
had written a letter to some of his family members shortly after the séance
at Cox's Hotel. In this letter, Brewster expressed himself somewhat differently
than he did in his highly skeptical newspaper letters, written half a
year later. After explaining how he and Lord Brougham came to Mr. Cox's
hotel to see Home, Brewster went on to say: "We four sat down at a moderately
sized table, the structure of which we were invited to examine. In a short
time the table shuddered, and a tremulous motion ran up all our arms;
at our bidding these motions ceased and returned. The most unaccountable
rappings were produced in various parts of the table, and the table actually
rose from the ground when no hand was upon it. A larger table was produced,
and exhibited similar movements. . . . A small hand-bell was then laid
down with its mouth on the carpet, and after lying for some time it actually
rang when nothing could have touched it. The bell was then placed on the
other side, still upon the carpet, and it came over to me and placed itself
in my hand. It did the same to Lord Brougham. These were the principal
experiments; we could give no explanation of them, and could not conjecture
how they could be produced by any kind of mechanism. Hands are sometimes
seen and felt, the hand often grasps another, and melts away as it were
under the grasp" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 289-290).

Wallace noted some discrepancies between this letter
and Sir David's later accounts: "He told the public that he had satisfied
himself that all could have been done by human hands and feet; whereas
in his earlier private letter he terms them unaccountable, and says that
he could not conjecture how they were done. Neither did he tell his public
of the tremulous motion up his arms, while he denied that the bell rang
at all, though he had before said that it actually rang, where nothing
could have touched it" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 290). Wallace stated that
"a similar tendency has prevailed in all the scientific opponents of spiritualism"
(Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 290).

St. George Mivart and the Miracles at Lourdes

A scientist with a more favorable attitude to spiritualistic
phenomena was St. George Mivart. Having become acquainted with spiritualism
through talks with Wallace and by reading his booklet edition of "The
Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural," Mivart decided to conduct his
own investigations. In the winter of 1870, Mivart was in Naples, Italy,
where Mrs. Guppy, a medium known to Wallace, resided with her husband.
Wallace provided Mivart with a letter of introduction. Mivart attended
three séances with Mrs. Guppy. During one séance, he received
correct answers to questions he asked mentally. This greatly surprised
him. At another séance, which took place in a darkened room, flowers
mysteriously appeared. Mivart explained in a letter to Wallace that "the
door was locked, the room searched, and all requisite precautions taken.
I was not surprised, because of all I had heard from you and others; but
the phenomenon was to me convincing. One such fact is as good as a hundred"
(Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 300-301). In his letter, Mivart listed some conclusions.
Among them: "I. I have encountered a power capable of removing sensible
objects in a way altogether new to me. II. I have encountered an intelligence
other than that of the visible assistants. III. In my séances this
intelligence has shown itself capable of reading my thought" (Wallace
1905, v. 2, p. 301).

A few years later, Mivart visited Lourdes, a pilgrimage
place in France where miraculous cures occurred, supposedly by the intervention
of the Virgin Mary. During his stay at Lourdes, Mivart conducted a study
of the cures. Wallace received from Mivart a long letter, dated April
5, 1874, about his findings. Mivart gave several case histories, gathered
from French physicians, including Dr. Dozens (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp.
302-304). Here follow two of them.

Blaisette Soupevue, a woman of fifty, had a severe
eye infection lasting several years and affecting her sight. Her eyelids
were turned out, lashless, and covered with fleshy growths. Doctors Dozens
and Vergez pronounced the case incurable. After bathing her eyes with
water from Lourdes, the woman completely recovered her sight, the growths
disappeared, and her eyelashes began to grow again.

Justin Bontisharts had a child ten years old, with
arms and legs much atrophied because of rickets. The child, who had never
been able to walk, was near death. Dr. Dozens, who had treated the case,
was present when the mother placed the child in the water at Lourdes.
The child remained motionless, so much so that many bystanders thought
it dead. Two days after returning home, however, the child, much to the
surprise of the parents, began walking normally and continued to do so.

For more documentation of miraculous cures at Lourdes,
Wallace recommended to his readers two books by Henri Lasserre, Notre
Dame de Lourdes and Les Episodes Miraculeux de Lourdes. "The
most remarkable feature of these cures," wrote Wallace (1905 v. 2, p.
306), "is their rapidity, often amounting to instantaneousness, which
broadly marks them off from all ordinary remedial agencies."

Wallace then described some cases. "One of the most
prominent of these, related by M. Lasserre, is that of Frangois Macary,
a carpenter of Lavaur. He had varicose veins for thirty years; they were
thick as one's finger, with enormous nodosities and frequent bleedings,
producing numerous ulcers, so that it had been for many years impossible
for him to walk or stand. Three physicians had declared him to be absolutely
incurable. At sixty years of age he heard of the cures at Lourdes, and
determined to try the waters. A bottle was sent him. Compresses with this
were applied in the evening to his two legs. He slept well all night,
and early next morning was quite well; his legs were smooth, and there
was hardly a trace of the swollen veins, nodosities, and ulcers. The three
doctors who had attended him certify to these facts" (Wallace 1905, v.
2, p. 306).

Most interesting is Wallace's explanation of the
cures. The cures, according to Wallace, were not caused by the water itself
but by a "a real spiritual agency," believed by those cured to be the
Virgin Mary (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 308). The cures were, however, rare,
and it was impossible to predict who would experience a cure. Wallace
noted that cures were not limited to patients who were especially religious
or otherwise deserving. In this respect, Wallace considered the patients
to be similar to spiritualistic mediums, who were not usually paragons
of virtue. Because certain patients, like mediums, were somehow sensitive,
they were, regardless of other considerations, selected by spiritual entities
as the conduits for psychical effects.

In many cases, cured individuals were "induced to
try the Lourdes water often by a very unusual combination of circumstances"
(Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 308). To explain this Wallace suggested the following
sequence of events in typical cures: (1) spiritual intelligences select
particular individuals for their sensitivity to psychic intervention and
possession of a normally incurable condition susceptible to paranormal
healing; (2) spiritual intelligences begin the cures, unknown to the patients;
(3) desiring ultimately to heighten the spiritual awareness of the patients
and others, the spiritual intelligences, at critical moments in the cures,
implant in the minds of the patients the idea of using Lourdes water or
going to Lourdes; (4) the patients act on these implanted suggestions,
experience tangible cures, and attribute them to miraculous intervention
by the Virgin Mary (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 308-309). According to this
scheme, the spiritual intelligences would in these cases act in conformity
with the religious and cultural conditioning of the patients. This is
an important idea, to which we shall return in coming chapters.

Against Hume on Miracles

The cures at Lourdes, imbued with Catholic tradition,
are usually called miracles, a word with religious connotations. The paranormal
phenomena witnessed by Wallace at séances, although devoid of conventional
religious overtones, are just as miraculous, in the sense of violating
natural law, as understood by orthodox materialistic science. These phenomena
might be called secular miracles. Reports of miracles, secular and religious,
attained wide circulation, even in educated circles in Europe. Those who
wished to dismiss such reports, which undermined the foundations of a
strictly materialistic science, often did so in the name of David Hume,
who a century earlier had argued in his book An Inquiry Into Human
Understanding against the acceptance of miracles.

Hume appealed to uniform human experience in his
refutation of miracles. For example, Hume observed "it is a miracle that
a dead man should come to life; because that has never been observed in
any age or any country." Wallace noted two flaws in this argument. First,
the appeal to uniform human experience, granting the truly uniform nature
of the experience, insures that no really new fact could ever be established.
Second, Wallace questioned the veracity of Hume's version of uniform human
experience. "Reputed miracles abound in all periods of history," wrote
Wallace (1896, p. 8). And they continued up to the present, thus nullifying
Hume's assumption.

Wallace (1896, p. 8) gave levitation of the human
body as an instance of a miraculous event for which there is abundant
human testimony: "A few well-known examples are those of St. Francis d'Assisi
who was often seen by many persons to rise in the air, and the fact is
testified by his secretary, who could only reach his feet. St. Theresa,
a nun in a convent in Spain, was often raised into the air in the sight
of all the sisterhood. Lord Orrery and Mr. Valentine Greatrak both informed
Dr. Henry More and Mr. Glanvil that at Lord Conway's house at Ragley,
in Ireland, a gentleman's butler, in their presence and in broad daylight,
rose into the air and floated about the room above their heads. This is
related by Glanvil in his Sadducismus Triumphatus. . . . So we all know
that at least fifty persons of high character may be found in London who
will testify that they have seen the same thing happen to Mr. Home."

Wallace then pointed out a contradiction in the pages
of Hume's own discussion of miracles. Hume had written that for testimony
in favor of a miracle to be accepted, it should have the following characteristics.
The testimony must be given by multiple observers. The observers should
have reputations for honesty. They should be in social positions that
entailed some definite material risk in the event their testimony were
to be found false. As for the events themselves, they should be public,
and they should take place in a civilized part of the world. Hume maintained
that such satisfactory testimony was "not to be found, in all history"
(Hume, cited in Wallace 1896, p. 8).

But Wallace noted that Hume then gave an account
of some miraculous occurrences that fulfilled his own strict criteria.
Hume told of the many extraordinary cures that took place in Paris at
the tomb of the Abbé Paris, a saintly member of the Jansenists,
a persecuted Catholic sect. Hume said of these events, which took place
not long before he wrote his book: "The curing of the sick, giving hearing
to the deaf, and sight to the blind, were everywhere talked of as the
usual effects of that holy sepulchre. But what is more extraordinary,
many of the miracles were immediately proved upon the spot, before judges
of unquestioned integrity, attested by witnesses of credit and distinction,
in a learned age, and on the most eminent theatre that is now in the world."
Not only that, said Hume. The Jesuits, who thoroughly opposed the Jansenists,
and desired to expose the miracles as hoaxes, were unable to do so, despite
their access to the full power of church and state. Given this set of
circumstances, it seems Hume should have accepted the miracle. Instead,
he wrote: "Where shall we find such a number of circumstances agreeing
to the corroboration of one fact? And what have we to oppose to such a
cloud of witnesses, but the absolute impossibility, or miraculous nature
of the events which they relate? And this, surely, in the eyes of all
reasonable people, will alone be regarded as a sufficient refutation"
(Wallace 1896, p. 9). Wallace faulted Hume for this blatantly self-contradictory
conclusion.

Wallace then cited a particularly striking case,
drawn from a book on the Parisian cures by Carrè de Montgeron,
and summarized in English by William Howitt in The History of the
Supernatural: "Mademoiselle Coirin was afflicted, amongst other ailments,
with a cancer in the left breast, for twelve years. The breast was destroyed
by it and came away in a mass; the effluvia from the cancer was horrible,
and the whole blood of the system was pronounced infected by it. Every
physician pronounced the case utterly incurable, yet, by a visit to the
tomb, she was perfectly cured; and, what was more astonishing, the breast
and nipple were wholly restored, with the skin pure and fresh, and free
from any trace of scar. This case was known to the highest people in the
realm. When the miracle was denied, Mademoiselle Coirin went to Paris,
was examined by the royal physician, and made a formal deposition of her
cure before a public notary. . . . M. Gaulard, physician to the king,
deposed officially, that, 'to restore a nipple actually destroyed, and
separated from the breast, was an actual creation, because a nipple is
not merely a continuity of the vessels of the breast, but a particular
body, which is of distinct and peculiar organisation'" (Wallace 1896,
pp. 11-12).

E. B. Tylor, one of the founders of anthropology,
also offered philosophical objections to spiritualistic phenomena. Tylor
called the primitive belief in a spirit world "animism." Modern spiritualism
would thus represent a remnant of primitive animistic thought in civilized
Europeans. Wallace countered that modern spiritualists arrived at their
conclusions by careful and repeated observation. "The question is a question
of facts," he wrote (Wallace 1896, p. 28). And to Wallace the facts suggested
that modern spiritualism and primitive belief shared "at least a substratum
of reality" and that "the uniformity of belief is due in great part to
the uniformity of underlying facts" (Smith 1991, p. 83).

More Experiences

While Wallace was defending spiritualism in print,
he was also gathering more experimental evidence. In 1874, he attended
a series of séances with the medium Kate Cook. The sittings took
place in the London apartment of Signor Randi, a painter. The medium sat
in a chair, behind a curtain hung across a corner of a large reception
room. Miss Cook always wore a black dress, earrings, and tightly laced
boots. A few minutes after she sat behind the curtain, a female figure,
wearing white robes, would sometimes come out and stand near the curtain.

Wallace (1905 v. 2, pp. 327-328) offered this description
of what happened: "One after another she would beckon us to come up. We
then talked together, the form in whispers; I could look closely into
her face, examine the features and hair, touch her hands, and might even
touch and examine her ears closely, which were not bored for earrings.
The figure had bare feet, was somewhat taller than Miss Cook, and, though
there was a general resemblance, was quite distinct in features, figure,
and hair. After half an hour or more this figure would retire, close the
curtains, and sometimes within a few seconds would say, 'Come and look.'
We then opened the curtains, turned up the lamp, and Miss Cook was found
in a trance, in the chair, her black dress, laced-boots, etc., in the
most perfect order as when she arrived, while the full-grown white-robed
figure had totally disappeared."

Wallace had a similar experience with the medium
Eglington. The séance took place at a private house, in the presence
of about eighteen spiritualists and people inquisitive about spiritualism.
The medium was to sit behind a curtain hung across one corner of a room.
The space behind the curtain was small, just large enough for the chair
on which the medium was to sit. Wallace noted, "I and others examined
this corner and found the walls solid and the carpet nailed down" (Wallace
1905, v. 2, p. 329). In other words, there was no concealed opening through
which a confederate could enter. After Eglington arrived and sat behind
the curtain, a robed male figure appeared and walked around the room,
in dim light, allowing all of the witnesses to touch his robes and examine
his hands and feet. Could the figure have been Eglington in disguise?

Wallace (1905 v. 2, p. 329) gave this description
of what happened immediately after the sitting: "Several of the medium's
friends begged him to allow himself to be searched so that the result
might be published. After some difficulty he was persuaded, and four persons
were appointed to make the examination. Immediately two of these led him
into a bedroom, while I and a friend who had come with me closely examined
the chair, floor, and walls, and were able to declare that nothing so
large as a glove had been left. We then joined the other two in the bedroom,
and as Eglington took off his clothes each article was passed through
our hands, down to underclothing and socks, so that we could positively
declare that not a single article besides his own clothes were found upon
him. The result was published in the Spiritualist newspaper [and] certified
by the names of all present."

It is true that on some occasions mediums were exposed
in cheating. This should not be surprising, for even in orthodox science
there is no shortage of cheating. One notable hoax was Piltdown man, which
fooled the scientific world for forty years. And today the manipulation
and manufacture of test results in science laboratories is fairly common.
So whether we are talking about paranormal science or normal science,
we cannot exclude the possibility of cheating and hoaxing. The only thing
we can do is examine particular cases and make reasonable judgements about
the likelihood of imposture. In the case of Wallace's experience with
Eglington, a great deal of care was taken to insure against trickery.
In light of this, the apparent materialization of a humanlike figure by
Eglington deserves a certain degree of credibility.

The most extraordinary phenomenon witnessed by Wallace
was produced by a truly remarkable medium, Mr. Monk. A nonconformist clergyman,
Monk had gained a considerable reputation for his séances. In order
to study him more closely and systematically, some well known spiritualists,
including Hensleigh Wedgwood and Stainton Moses, rented some rooms for
Monk in the Bloomsbury district of London. Wedgwood and Moses invited
Wallace to come and see what Monk could do.

Wallace (1905 v. 2, p. 330) later gave this account
of what happened: "It was a bright summer afternoon, and everything happened
in the full light of day. After a little conversation, Monk, who was dressed
in the usual clerical black, appeared to go into a trance; then stood
up a few feet in front of us, and after a little while pointed to his
side, saying, 'Look.' We saw there a faint white patch on his coat on
the left side. This grew brighter, then seemed to flicker, and extend
both upwards and downwards, till very gradually it formed a cloudy pillar
extending from his shoulder to his feet and close to his body. Then he
shifted himself a little sideways, the cloudy figure standing still, but
appearing joined to him by a cloudy band at the height at which it had
first begun to form. Then, after a few minutes more, Monk again said 'Look,'
and passed his hand through the connecting band, severing it. He and the
figure then moved away from each other till they were about five or six
feet apart. The figure had now assumed the appearance of a thickly draped
female form, with arms and hands just visible. Monk looked towards it
and again said to us 'Look,' and then clapped his hands. On which the
figure put out her hands, clapped them as he had done, and we all distinctly
heard her clap following his, but fainter. The figure then moved slowly
back to him, grew fainter and shorter, and was apparently absorbed into
his body as it had grown out of it."

Broad daylight rules out clever puppetry. That Monk
was standing only a few feet from Wallace, in the middle of an ordinary
room, rules out the production of the form by stage apparatus. Wedgwood
told Wallace that on other occasions a tall, robed, male figure appeared
alongside Monk. This figure would remain for up to half an hour, and allowed
himself to be touched by Wedgwood and his colleagues, who carefully examined
his body and clothes. Furthermore, the figure could exert force on material
objects. Once the figure went so far as to lift a chair upon which one
of the investigators was seated (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 331).

Exchanges with Romanes

In 1880, Nature published a letter from
an anonymous scientist expressing an interest in carrying out experiments
to verify paranormal phenomena. Wallace deduced that the scientist was
George J. Romanes. He wrote to him, pointing out that several scientists
had already performed such experiments but had met with "only abuse and
ridicule" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 310). On February 17, 1880, Romanes
replied that he was aware of such scientific prejudice, but he was hopeful
that further proofs would have the desired effect. He suggested that Wallace
did not realize the extent to which his own work had created within the
scientific community a climate favorable to the eventual acceptance of
spiritualistic phenomena (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 311). When Romanes repeated
his desire to carry out some experiments, Wallace gave him some practical
advice.

Wallace paid Romanes a visit in London. Romanes told
Wallace how he had become interested in spiritualism (Wallace 1905, v.
2, pp. 314-315). A relative of his--a sister or cousin--happened to be
a medium. At séances with her, Romanes witnessed the communication
of messages by rapping not produced by any of those present. At times,
the messages contained answers to the mental questions of Romanes. Romanes
was impressed, and in 1876 he had written some letters to Darwin, giving
a positive account of his experiences. Wallace was later shown these letters
by a friend (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 315).

A year or two after his visit to Romanes, Wallace
(1905 v. 2, p. 330) was surprised to read in a London newspaper some remarks
by Romanes very unfavorable to thought reading. Wallace did not, however,
reply. But in 1890, Wallace and Romanes became involved in a controversy
about evolution. In his criticism of Wallace's book Darwinism,
published in the journal Nineteenth Century (May 1890, p. 831),
Romanes said that in the last chapter "we encounter the Wallace of spiritualism
and astrology . . . the Wallace of incapacity and absurdity" (Wallace
1905, v. 2, p. 317).

Wallace replied privately in a letter dated July
18, 1890: "As to your appeal to popular scientific prejudice by referring
to my belief in spiritualism and astrology (which latter I have never
professed my belief in), I have something to say. In the year 1876 you
wrote two letters to Darwin, detailing your experiences of spiritual phenomena.
You told him that you had had mental questions answered with no paid medium
present. You told him you had had a message from Mr. J. Bellew. . . .
And you declared your belief that some non-human intelligence was then
communicating with you. You also described many physical phenomena occurring
in your own house with the medium Williams. You saw 'hands,' apparently
human, yet not those of any one present. You saw hand-bells, etc., carried
about; you saw a human head and face above the table, with mobile features
and eyes. Williams was held all the time, and your brother walked round
the table to prove that there was no wire or other machinery (in your
own room!), yet a bell, placed on a piano some distance away, was taken
up by a luminous hand and rung and carried about the room! Can you have
forgotten all this? In your second letter to Darwin you expressed your
conviction of the truth of these facts, and of the existence of spiritual
intelligences, of mind without brain. You said these phenomena had altered
your whole conceptions. Formerly you had thought there were two mental
natures in Crookes and Wallace--one sane, the other lunatic! Now (you
said) you belonged in the same class as they did" (Wallace 1905, v. 2,
pp. 317-318). Wallace therefore thought it unfair that Romanes should
have written as he did in the Nineteenth Century article.

In subsequent letters to Wallace, Romanes replied
that his letters to Darwin were private and contained only a provisional
acceptance of the phenomena he witnessed. Romanes claimed he later suspected
that the medium Williams was cheating. To test this, he placed him inside
a metal cage, and in this circumstance none of the usual phenomena occurred.
Romanes thereupon withdrew the opinions expressed in his letters to Darwin
(Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 319, 321).

Wallace answered that the experiment with the cage
did not discredit the experiences Romanes reported in his letters (Wallace
1905, v. 2, pp. 320-321). Wallace would accept that they were fraudulent
only if Romanes could explain how they were produced, under the circumstances
he described. After all, the phenomena took place in Romanes's own house,
with the medium held all the time, and with Romanes's brother walking
around the room to make sure no wires or other tricks were being employed.
Romanes admitted the events were inexplicable (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p.
322).

Wallace also pointed out that some mediums had passed
the cage test: "Mr. Adshead, a gentleman of Belper, had a wire cage made,
and Miss Wood sat in it in his own house, many times, and under these
conditions many forms of men, women, and children, appeared in the room.
A similar cage was afterwards used by the Newcastle Spiritual Evidence
Society, for a year or more, and Miss Wood sat in it weekly. It was screwed
up from the outside, yet all the usual phenomena of materialization occurred
just the same as when no cage was used" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 322-323).

Romanes was not the only scientist to denigrate Wallace's
research in spiritualism. One evening, while having tea after a lecture
at the Royal Institution, Wallace found himself standing behind Dr. Ansted,
who was conversing with a friend. The topic of spiritualism came up, and
Dr. Ansted, unaware that Wallace was standing nearby, said, "What a strange
thing it is such men as Crookes and Wallace should believe in it!" Ansted's
friend laughed and said, "Oh, they are mad on that one subject" (Wallace
1905, v. 2, p. 314). The spreading of such talk is one way by which a
scientific orthodoxy can maintain itself--members are subtly reminded
that certain kinds of research can be damaging to one's professional reputation.

Spiritualistic Encounters in America

During the years 1886 and 1887, Wallace traveled
in the United States on a scientific lecture tour. In the course of his
visit, he also met many American spiritualists, such as Professor William
James of Harvard, and attended several séances.

One series of séances took place at the Boston
home of Mrs. Ross, a medium famous for materializations (Wallace 1905,
v. 2, pp. 338-339). To make a space for the medium, a curtain was placed
across the corner of a front downstairs room. The sides of this corner
were an outside wall of the house and an inside wall, on the other side
of which was a back room. The inside wall was occupied by a cupboard filled
with china. Wallace carefully inspected the walls and floor, from within
the front room, the back room, and the basement. He determined that there
were no openings through which anyone could enter, other than a sliding
door to the back room. This door was sealed with sticking plaster, and
the witnesses secretly marked the plaster with pencil, so that if the
plaster were moved they would be able to tell. The ten witnesses, including
Wallace, sat in dim light in a circle in front of the curtain. The light
was sufficient for Wallace to see the hands of his watch and to see the
forms of everyone in the room. Under these circumstances, three figures
emerged from behind the curtain--a female figure in White, Mrs. Ross dressed
in black, and a male figure. When these retired, three female figures,
of different heights and dressed in white, came out. These were followed
by a single male figure. One of the gentleman witnesses identified him
as his son. Later, a figure dressed as an American Indian came out from
behind the curtain. He danced, spoke, and shook hands with some of those
present, including Wallace. Finally, a female figure holding a baby appeared
in front of the curtain. Wallace, on being invited by her, came up and
touched the baby, and found it to be real. "Directly after the séance
was over," wrote Wallace, "the gas was lighted, and I again examined the
bare walls of the cabinet, the curtains, and the door, all being just
as before, and affording no room or place for disposing of the baby alone,
far less of the other figures" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 339).

At another séance with Mrs. Ross, attended
by William James, Wallace again saw eight or nine figures come out from
behind the curtain. One of these was the departed niece of one of the
witnesses, Mr. Brackett. Wallace noted that "Mr. Brackett has often seen
her develop gradually from a cloudy mass, and almost instantly vanish
away" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 339).

Wallace himself saw figures known to him. "One was
a beautifully draped female figure, who took my hand, looked at me smilingly,
and on my appearing doubtful, said in a whisper that she had often met
me at Miss Kate Cook's séances in London. She then let me feel
her ears, as I had done before to prove she was not the medium. I then
saw that she closely resembled the figure with whom I had often talked
and joked at Signor Randi's, a fact known to no one in America. The other
figure was an old gentleman with white hair and beard, and in evening-dress.
He took my hand, bowed, and looked pleased, as one meeting an old friend.
. . . at length I recognized the likeness to a photograph I had of my
cousin Algernon Wilson, whom I had not seen since we were children, but
had long corresponded with him, as he was an enthusiastic entomologist,
living in Adelaide, where he had died not long before. . . . These two
recognitions were to me very striking, because they were both so private
and personal to myself, and could not possibly have been known to the
medium or even to any of my friends present" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp.
339-340).

A few months after these events, a group of twelve
men came to one of Mrs. Ross's séances with the intention of exposing
the materialized spirit forms as imposters (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 340).
When they executed their plan, the twelve men found themselves unable
to detain a single suspect (two men, one woman, two boys, and a little
girl) or take a single piece of their paraphernalia. The men declared
to a newspaper that the alleged imposters had entered the space behind
the curtain through a sliding portion of the baseboard. Upon learning
of this, some friends of Mrs. Ross brought her landlord and a carpenter
to the scene, where they conducted a thorough inspection. The carpenter
testified that there was no opening in the baseboard, and that none had
been made and covered up. Wallace sent to the Banner of Light a
letter stating these facts. He argued that "the utter failure of twelve
men, who went for the express purpose of detecting and identifying confederates,
utterly failing to do so or to secure any tangible evidence of their existence,
is really a very strong proof that there were no confederates to detect"
(Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 340-341). This is not to deny that there were
cases in which mediums were exposed and confederates seized. But this
particular case does not seem to fall in that category.

In Washington, D.C., Wallace, accompanied by a college
professor, an army general, and a government official, all spiritualists,
attended séances with the medium P. L. O. A. Keeler (Wallace 1905,
v. 2, pp. 341-345). Across one corner of the room a black curtain was
stretched on a cord, five feet off the floor. In the space behind the
curtain was a table, upon which rested a tambourine and a bell. Before
the séance, Wallace carefully checked the walls and floor, satisfying
himself that there were no hidden entrances. He also checked the curtain,
noticing it was one solid piece of cloth, with no openings. Everyone there
had the chance to make similar investigations. Keeler and two guests from
the audience sat in three chairs in front of the curtain. A lower curtain
was then raised in front of them, up to the level of their chests. Keeler's
hands were placed on those of the guest sitting next to him. Wallace (1905
v. 2, p. 343) observed: "The tambourine was rattled and played on, then
a hand appeared above the curtain, and a stick was given to it which it
seized. Then the tambourine was lifted high on this stick and whirled
round with great rapidity, the bell being rung at the same time. All the
time the medium sat quiet and impassive, and the person next him certified
to his two hands being on his or hers." A pencil and notepad were then
passed to the hand above the curtain. Behind the curtain, messages were
written, and these were thrown over the curtain. The messages were signed
with names known to certain witnesses, who found the content of the messages
intelligible. Wallace himself received a message in an extraordinary way.
Instead of passing the notepad over the curtain to the hand, he held it
himself near the curtain. Wallace then saw a hand with a pencil come through
the solid curtain and write a message to him on the pad.

On another occasion, Wallace observed a similar occurrence:
"A stick was pushed out through the curtain. Two watches were handed to
me through the curtain, and were claimed by the two persons who sat by
the medium. The small tambourine, about ten inches in diameter, was pushed
through the curtain and fell on the floor. These objects came through
different parts of the curtain, but left no holes as could be seen at
the time, and was proved by a close examination afterwards. More marvellous
still (if that be possible), a waistcoat was handed to me over the curtain,
which proved to be the medium's, though his coat was left on and his hands
had been held by his companions all the time; also about a score of people
were looking on all the time in a well-lighted room. These things seem
impossible, but they are, nevertheless, facts" (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp.
344-345).

In San Francisco, Wallace, along with his brother
John, who lived in California, and Mr. Owen, editor of the Golden Gate,
attended some slate writing sessions with the medium Fred Evans (Wallace
1905, v. 2, pp. 346-349). A physician, a friend of Mr. Owen, also was
present. Four folding slates were cleaned with a damp sponge and then
handed to the four guests for inspection. The slates were closed and placed
on the table. The guests then placed their hands on the slates. When a
signal was given, they opened the slates and found writing on all of them.
The messages were from departed relatives of Wallace and departed spiritualists.
The usual skeptical explanation is that the slates were somehow switched.
But Wallace's description of the procedure appears to rule that out, as
the witnesses had their own hands on the slates at critical times.

Another set of slates was set on the table. The medium
marked one of these slates with a pencil. When opened, this slate was
covered with writing in five colors. Wallace observed that the letters
were clearly superimposed over the pencil marks. This appears to rule
out any clever chemical means of producing the letters.

Wallace's brother had brought a new folding slate
of his own. This was placed nearby on the floor for a few minutes. Wallace
kept the slate in sight the entire time. When the slate was opened, a
message was found written upon both sides of it. That it was a new slate,
not belonging to the medium, is significant.

Wallace then asked the medium if the writing could
be produced on pieces of paper placed between slates. Evans told Wallace
to take six pieces of paper from a notepad and place them between a pair
of slates. Wallace did so. After a few minutes, the slates were opened.
Wallace found portraits of five departed spiritualists and a long dead
sister of his drawn in crayon on the six pieces of paper, which had rested
one on top of the other between the slates. They had been placed there
by Wallace himself, ruling out substitution by the medium. Given the unexpected
request by Wallace, the circumstances under which the pieces of paper
were placed between the slates, it is hard to see how the medium could
have carried out any deception.

Wallace (1905 v. 2, pp. 348-349) noted: "The whole
of the seven slates and six papers were produced so rapidly that the séance
occupied less than an hour, and with such simple and complete openness,
under the eyes of four observers, as to constitute absolutely test conditions.
. . . A statement to this effect was published, with an account of the
séance, signed by all present."

Wallace's Theory of Spiritualism: Analysis and Critique

Summarizing the conclusions he drew from his spiritual
researches, Wallace (1892, p. 648) stated: "The universal teaching of
modern spiritualism is that the world and the whole material universe
exist for the purpose of developing spiritual beings--that death is simply
a transition from material existence to the first grade of spirit-life--and
that our happiness and the degree of our progress will be wholly dependent
upon the use we have made of our faculties and opportunities here."

Such conclusions were drawn solely from facts that
had been carefully and repeatedly observed in nature, and they were thus
entirely scientific, said Wallace (Wallace 1885a, p. 809). The observable
facts did not, however, warrant extending spiritualist conclusions beyond
certain limits. The verifiable facts of spiritualism were, according to
Wallace, related to humans and the spirit beings nearest to earthly human
existence. He therefore warned: "Speculations on the nature or origin
of mind in general as well as those on the ultimate states to which human
minds may attain in the infinite future, I look upon as altogether beyond
the range of our faculties, and to be, therefore, utterly untrustworthy
and profitless" (Wallace 1885b; in Smith 1991, p. 101). Wallace was generally
content with the limited conclusions that could be drawn from the observable
middle ground of human experience. He himself did, however, sometimes
venture into the realm of "untrustworthy" speculation about origins and
ultimate states.

Wallace found spiritualism to be a good scientific
hypothesis, for it allowed him to intelligibly organize and explain many
categories of evidence. For example, spiritualism allowed him to accommodate
in one explanatory system the spiritlike daimon that advised Socrates,
the Greek oracles, the miracles of the Old and New Testaments, the miracles
of saints such as St. Bernard, St. Francis, and St. Theresa; the phenomena
of witchcraft; modern Catholic miracles such as Marian apparitions; psychic
powers reported in primitive peoples, and the efficacy of prayer, as well
as the phenomena of modern spiritualism (Wallace 1874; in Smith 1991,
pp. 87-89). All of these could be attributed to spirits acting through
especially sensitive humans to produce unusual physical and mental effects.

If spirits were nonmaterial or made of "the most
diffused and subtle forms of matter," (Wallace 1896, p. 44) how could
they act on, or even produce, substantial material objects? Wallace observed
that "all the most powerful and universal forces of nature are now referred
to minute vibrations of an almost infinitely attenuated form of matter;
and that, by the grandest generalisations of modern science, the most
varied natural phenomena have been traced back to these recondite forces"
(Wallace 1896, p. 44). Regarding the "almost infinitely attenuated form
of matter," Wallace was referring to a space-filling ether. In his system,
the spirit beings would act on the ether, and this subtle action would
amplify through the forces of nature into action on the level of observable
matter.

Wallace (1896, pp. 47-48) further proposed: "Beings
of an ethereal order, if such exist, would probably possess some sense
or senses . . . .giving them increased insight into the constitution of
the universe, and proportionately increased intelligence to guide and
direct for special ends those new modes of ethereal motion with which
they would in that case be able to deal. Their every faculty might be
proportionate to the modes of action of the ether. They might have a power
of motion as rapid as that of light or the electric current. They might
have a power of vision as acute as that of our most powerful telescopes
and microscopes. They might have a sense somewhat analogous to the powers
of the last triumph of science, the spectroscope, and by it be enabled
to perceive instantaneously, the intimate constitution of matter under
every form, whether in organised beings or in stars and nebulae. Such
existences, possessed of such, to us, inconceivable powers, would not
be supernatural, except in a very limited and incorrect sense of the term
. . . all would still be natural."

The space-filling ether of nineteenth century physics
is no longer with us. But there are modern scientific concepts that would
allow Wallace's basic system to operate. According to deterministic chaos
theorists, immeasurably small random perturbances of matter can rapidly
propagate into large-scale effects that are not easily predictable. Scientists
sometimes give the example of a Caribbean butterfly that by its wings
sets off motions of air molecules. These movements might eventually amplify
to steer a hurricane from open sea into the American coast. If the butterfly
had flapped its wings slightly differently, the hurricane might not have
hit land. According to this idea, Wallace's spirit beings might make infinitesimal
adjustments on the subatomic level that would quickly propagate into observable
spiritualist effects. One might also propose that they are somehow capable
of manipulating the curvature of Einstein's space-time continuum. They
could thus produce gravitational effects, for gravity is said to be the
result of curvature in the continuum. Or one might propose that the spirit
beings induce slight changes in the quantum mechanical vacuum, which in
some ways resembles an ether. Of course, this approach is limiting, and
rather than straining to find ways to explain spiritualist phenomena in
conformity with currently accepted physical laws, it may make more sense
to come up with a new theoretical system that more naturally incorporates
both the normal and paranormal phenomena. Reintroducing a variety of the
ether concept might be one way to do it. One could define the ether as
a subtle interface between consciousness and matter.

In terms of modern discussion of the mind/body question,
Wallace would be a dualist. He accepted the existence of a conscious self
distinct from the physical body. Wallace noted that the bodies of organisms,
from primitive to advanced, were built up from molecules, arranged in
ever increasing complexity. More, however, was needed to explain consciousness.
"If a material element, or a combination of a thousand material elements
in a molecule, are all alike unconscious, it is impossible for us to believe,
that the mere addition of one, two, or a thousand other material elements
to form a more complex molecule, could in any way produce a self-conscious
existence. The things are radically distinct. . . . There is no escape
from this dilemma,--either all matter is conscious, or consciousness is
something distinct from matter, and in the latter case, its presence in
material forms is a proof of the existence of conscious beings, outside
of, and independent of, what we term matter" (Wallace 1870; in Smith 1991,
p. 290).

Wallace favored the latter course, but his system
has certain puzzling features. Although a dualist, he does not appear
to accept the existence of individual conscious entities before their
earthly embodiment. According to Wallace, there is an original spiritual
mind from which matter is generated. Individual spiritual minds, associated
with spiritual bodies (souls), are only developed from and in material
bodies, as they come into existence (Wallace 1885b; in Smith 1991, p.
100). After death, the individual minds, as above stated, go to "the first
grade of spirit life," where they experience progress or the lack of it
based on their earthly habits. But if individual spirit souls can exist
after earthly embodiment, why not before? And why is there any need at
all for earthly embodiment, which is not an altogether pleasant experience?
Why not skip that and go directly to the highest grade of spiritual life?

A system in which there is preexistence of spirit
beings offers a solution. According to Wallace, spirit has free will,
and as a result suffers or enjoys the consequences of its actions after
death. So if we allow that souls exist before their material embodiment,
and also possess free will, we could explain the embodiment of some of
these souls by misuse of the same free will. Only those souls who misused
their free will would suffer embodiment, which does seem to have some
unpleasant features, such as inevitable disease and death.

Here is another problem with Wallace's system. In
his works, Wallace details reports of varied spiritualistic phenomena,
such as levitation, apparitions, and clairvoyance, from his own time and
throughout history. But he ignores reports of transmigration of souls,
which occur widely in almost all times and places. The reports of transmigration
are just as credible as any other category of evidence he considers. The
existence of this phenomenon requires, however, certain modifications
in Wallace's system. At death, souls would pass not necessarily into the
first phase of spiritual existence but perhaps into new material bodies.
According to religious systems that incorporate transmigration, such as
the Vedic system, some souls, because of their strong attachment to their
last embodiment, do not attain new material bodies, but remain for some
time as ghosts. This actually fits in quite well with the observations
of Wallace and other spiritualists, who found that the spirits they contacted
often desired to communicate with living friends and relatives.

Wallace's Spiritualism and Evolution

How did Wallace incorporate his spiritualist ideas
into his theory of evolution by natural selection? Specifically, how did
his spiritualist ideas relate to his theory of human origins? First of
all, Wallace believed that evolution was in some sense directed. Although
the origin of species was in general governed by natural selection, natural
selection was, in his opinion, not sufficient to account for the exact
variety of species we encounter today. Some forces, the nature of which
were not clearly understood, and which perhaps never could be understood,
shaped the path that evolution by natural selection followed.

Stephen J. Gould, an influential modern evolutionary
theorist, has proposed that if we "ran the tape" of evolution again we
would not get the same result. For example, we might not get human beings.
Indeed, we might "run the tape" a thousand different times and get a thousand
different sets of species. In other words, there is a certain contingency
rather than inevitability to the evolutionary process. There are so many
variables that one cannot predict in advance the path evolution will follow.
If there are so many paths, each of which is dependent on millions of
accidental occurrences, great and small, then this leaves open the possibility
for an original Mind to manipulate the process to get a specific result.

Given a certain initial condition and a desired end
result, the Mind-directed pathway, mediated by natural selection, might
contain a lot of strange features one would not expect from a Creator,
but it would nevertheless be guided and intentional. For example, the
panda has a thumblike appendage that it uses to grasp bamboo shoots, its
favorite food. Gould points out that the so-called thumb is not a real
digit but an outgrowth from the panda's wrist. God would never have created
the panda's "thumb," says Gould. Only natural selection could account
for such a weird, quirky adaptation. But God and natural selection were,
for Wallace, not mutually exclusive. The original Mind could have guided
the path of natural selection in a certain direction to get human beings
as an end result. And one of the byproducts may have been the panda, with
its strange thumb.

Let us consider in more detail the source of guidance
in Wallace's system of guided evolution. Anticipating Einstein, Wallace
considered matter to be a transformation of force, or energy (Wallace
1870, in Smith 1991, p. 290). Force existed in two varieties: "The first
consists of the primary forces of nature, such as gravitation, cohesion,
repulsion, heat, electricity, etc.; the second is our own will force"
(Wallace 1870, in Smith 1991, p. 290). The ancient question of free will
remains an unresolved problem for most philosophers and scientists right
up to the present. Foregoing a review of the entire debate, I shall here
simply reproduce the main features of Wallace's argument.

Wallace observed that many persons suggest free will
is "but the result of molecular changes in the brain" (Wallace 1870, in
Smith 1991, p. 291). But he countered that no one has ever proved that
all force exhibited in a body can be attributed to known primary forces
of nature. Accepting the existence of free will as an observed feature
of human consciousness, he proposed that its exercise must involve the
exertion of a force capable of setting into motion the other natural forces
exhibited in organisms. In this sense, the action of natural forces in
an organism could be ultimately traced to the action of will force. This
led Wallace to conclude: "If, therefore, we have traced one force, however
minute, to an origin in our own WILL, while we have no knowledge of any
other primary cause of force, it does not seem an improbable conclusion
that all force may be will-force; and thus, that the whole universe, is
not merely dependent on, but actually is, the WILL of higher intelligences
or of one Supreme Intelligence" (Wallace 1870; in Smith 1991, p. 291).
In other words, all matter and force in the universe are transformations
of the will of a Supreme Intelligence, or intelligences.

The will of higher intelligences, according to Wallace,
guided the process of evolution by natural selection. Wallace stated:
"A superior intelligence has guided the development of man in a definite
direction, and for a special purpose, just as man guides the development
of many animal and vegetable forms. The laws of evolution alone would,
perhaps, never have produced a grain so well adapted to man's use as wheat
and maize; such traits as the seedless banana and bread-fruit; or such
animals as the Guernsey milch cow, or the London dray-horse. Yet these
so closely resemble the unaided productions of nature, that we may well
imagine a being who had mastered the laws of development of organic forms
through past ages, refusing to believe that any new power had been concerned
in their production, and scornfully rejecting the theory (as my theory
will be rejected by many who agree with me on other points), that in these
few cases a controlling intelligence had directed the action of the laws
of variation, multiplication, and survival, for his own purposes. We know,
however, that this has been done; and we must therefore admit the possibility
that, if we are not the highest intelligence in the universe, some higher
intelligence may have directed the process by which the human race was
developed, by means of more subtle agencies than we are acquainted with
(Wallace 1870, pp. 359-360; in Smith 1991, p. 289).

Wallace believed that certain physiological features
of humans could not be explained by natural selection and survival of
the fittest alone. He noted that the brains of primitive peoples were
as large and developed as the brains of civilized peoples. It appeared,
therefore, that the primitive people had brains with capacities far in
excess of those demanded by their daily lives. Wallace said "natural selection
could only have endowed the savage with a brain a little superior to that
of an ape" (Wallace 1869; in Smith 1991, p. 32). Concerning the human
hand, Wallace said the savage "has no need for so fine an instrument,
and can no more fully utilise it than he could use without instruction
a complete set of joiner's tools" (Wallace 1869; in Smith 1991, p. 32).
Wallace made similar arguments about the human capacity for speech. He
took all of this as evidence that some intelligence had "guided the action"
of the laws of evolutionary development "in definite directions and for
special ends" (Wallace 1869; in Smith 1991, p. 33).

Wallace, as we have seen, believed the human race
was of considerable antiquity. And interestingly enough, he thought that
the current level of European civilization might not have been humankind's
highest moment. "And," he added, "if we are thus led to believe that our
present knowledge of nature is somewhat less complete than we have been
accustomed to consider it, this is only what we might expect; for however
great may have been the intellectual triumphs of the nineteenth century,
we can hardly think so highly of its achievements as to imagine that,
in somewhat less than twenty years, we have passed from complete ignorance
to almost perfect knowledge on two such vast and complex subjects as the
origin of species and the antiquity of man" (Wallace 1876; in Smith 1991,
pp. 43-44). Although we must now talk of 150 years instead of twenty,
what Wallace said towards the end of the nineteenth century remains true
at the beginning of the twenty-first.

Editor's Postcript

Mr. Cremo refers to the
following works in this chapter (in addition to those items by Wallace
found in Smith 1991):

--Beloff, John, 1993. Parapsychology:
A Concise History. New York: St. Martin's Press.

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